Voices in the Wilderness: Understanding the nature and authority of the true prophets of God

By Kenyatta R Arnette

Voices in the Wilderness explores the office and calling of prophets from a biblical perspective which tends to contradict the modern fascination with the prophetic office. Prophets were held in high esteem prior to the coming of The Christ and throughout the Old Testament yet seemed almost dismissed in the New

• Language: English
• Publisher: Kenyatta Arnette
• Release date: May 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781088150696

Kenyatta R Arnette

Rev. Dr. Kenyatta Arnette, is an ordained minister, an author of several other Christian books. He is a bold preacher of the Gospel, a singer, an educator, and the proprietor of the KRA Ministries, LLC. He is also the founder and Servant Leader of the Grace United Fellowship of Christian Ministries. He is an avid proponent for education as the secret element to self-betterment and self-fulfillment. Dr. Arnette is the recipient of multiple awards and honors and has earned multiple degrees which include a PhD from Capella University in Educational Leadership and Administration, a MDiv from the Interdenominational Theological Center, and an MBA from Western Governs University. Dr. Arnette possesses a deep passion for Christian ministry, social justice, and unity among those he's been called to serve. Some would call him a modern-day prophetic voice of the people proclaiming the undying hope and the unconditional love of God for all people.

Book preview

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Examine Yourself

2 Corinthians 13:3-5 (RSV)

³ Since you desire proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful in you. ⁴ For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we are weak in him, but in dealing with you we shall live with him by the power of God. ⁵ Examine yourselves, to see whether you are holding to your faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 

We need a true word from God, not mediocre rhetoric or the regurgitation of a myriad of cliches from oilless individuals. Oilless because they lack the fervor and anointing of God, ministering without a message and preaching without real power. No more sounding brass or clanging cymbals pretending and perpetrating to possess the authority which can only obtained from the purging of flaming coals on the altar of God found only within the holy of holies, a place only few have been chosen to enter.

The hour of impotent prophets spreading empty messages to glorify themselves and to draw the attention of people to themselves has ended. God and the salvation of humanity and God’s church demands the resurgence of the true prophets od God, not ego-hungry attention-seeking opportunist. The prophetic work demands deep unbridled intimate relationship with God and unity with the Holy Spirit. You must be ready and equipped for the warfare that awaits you in this spiritually compromised world. Even the church has been compromised.

As I pondered the mounting challenges which confront our faith, I was reminded of a text in Judges 19, a very painful, dark, and gloomy biblical text, yet very pungent and relevant for our time as we consider the issues contained within this text, as well as those of our present time. The text opens the first verse with the realization of the absence of true spiritual leadership, And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, and then the chapter closes with this staggering demand, Just imagine! We must do something! So, speak up!

Whether we are prepared to acknowledge it or not, the pulpit has a duty to speak up and to speak out. Those called to prophetic ministry have not been called to negotiate automobile and real estate loans or to play matchmaker to those searching for love. Our duty is to speak up and to speak out concerning the human condition and those things concerning the Spirit of God. We must condemn what must be condemned and speak life where life needs to happen. God requires such boldness in prophets. We have an obligation to God and to the people that we serve to speak up and to speak out, but you must ask yourself the question, Am I the one God is calling for in this season? Am I ready and equipped for the work of the prophet?

Let us be clear, transparent, and honest; there is nothing so amazingly wonderful about you that God should call or need you to do God’s work. Who do you think you are that God would call or consider you, the mess that you are and with all that you have done? A prophet? God’s spokesperson? Why you? Why not you? It is the mere fact that you are who you are which justifies your elevation and appointment.

Psalm 115:12-13 (RSV)

¹² The Lord has been mindful of us; he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.

¹³ He will bless those who fear the Lord, both small and great.

God sees and knows us and will be faithful to bless us regardless of who we are. God sees and knows all and speaks into our human situations rhema messages. In seasons of success, joy, and gladness, God speaks. But it is our same caring, compassionate, covenant-making God, who in times of confusion and trouble, God speaks. Amidst chaos and confusion, God speaks. Even during our melancholy journey through the valley of the shadow of death, God speaks. It is through the voices and mouths of tried and trusted prophets that The Invisible God has continued to speak and convey the complexities and intricacies of the divine plan.

Are you that voice? Are you the voice prepared, tried, and trusted to carry and proclaim to the world as the mouthpiece of God? While God is speaking throughout the heavens, who among us is speaking for God declaring to the people all that God has spoken making clear the plan of God before the congregations of the earth?

Where are the true prophets of our time? Are there any true prophets remaining in the land? We must ponder this question, who will speak on God’s behalf, or has God ceased speaking just as God did during the near four hundred years between the Old and New Testaments known as the Dark Ages? God is speaking but we cannot hear God because of the constant noise and clamoring of life which include technological accessibility, social media influences, political dissension and discourse, religious rhetoric, pandemic outcomes, and the prevalence of social injustice around the world.

If the church and the people of God are to overcome and survive, we need God to move as never before. We need God to break the silence of heaven and shatter the darkness of our present situations with an unleashed word, a fresh rhema word, to heal the spiritually wounded and exercise the darkness and spiritually wicked among us. The Church Universal needs to bombard heaven, Lord, send us true prophets to speak on Your behalf. Send us anointed vessels, those oracles endowed with spiritual wisdom and insight to reveal Your truths to us and the certainty of Your presence among us.

We need bona fide prophets to boldly proclaim God’s message throughout this wilderness we call life. The Bible commands us to examine ourselves and to be self-reflective in the process of seeking and securing the purity of holiness. Holiness the way of life for the chosen of God. Before you begin declaring yourself a prophet you had better check yourself before you find yourself wrecked upon the journey.

Repeating a bunch of Bible verses and clichés does not make you a prophet any more than sharing obvious good news with others. Just because you made a statement which seemed to have happened does not make you a prophet. Prophesying is the divine spiritual act of becoming the very vessel through and by which The Eternal speaks into time and space. It is fresh, relevant, revelation about the awesomeness of God in our time.

Prophets have a place in the life every believer for they speak to our everyday situations as God would deem necessary for the situations in which we find ourselves. Every word professed to have prophetic authority is not prophetic; other statements are simply obvious and determined through observation and speculation. The true prophet of God must hear beyond what they hear in the natural and see beyond what they see in the realm of the physical. Prophets are the timeless revealers of divine truth.

Divine prophecy comes during seasons of chaos, calamity, confusion, and uncertainty. God speaks to resolve and rectify our issues and to deliver us assurance and hope in uncertain times. Prophecy speaks to situations and conditions. It is not random or generalized but sent to a particular person/people for a specific purpose. Prophetic revelation is purposeful and intentional.

The prophet is the voice of God in this present hour and for this season. Pity the prophet who lacks spiritual vision and insight into the mind of God. They must know God and be in relationship with God possessing sound theological understanding of who God is. Because of the depth of God’s knowledge and love for humanity and God’s concern for the human condition, we must release ourselves from minimalistic thought processes concerning the person and nature of God and what God can accomplish in the lives of humanity.

Believers beware! It is not the work of the prophet to perform, fulfill, or manifest the actuality of a divine promise. It is the work and responsibility of the prophet to pronounce and proclaim the promises of God in the lives of God’s people and before nations and kingdoms, with definitive certainty and clarity. Prophets must remain before the Lord and in the face of God with their ears and hearts attuned to the voice of the Lord. Prophets must have something to say from God. Reciting clichés, anecdotes, Bible verses, and religious rhetoric does not assure prophetic authority.

Prophets share with an assigned people that which God has spoken to them through dreams, visions, whispers, and spiritual unction. Prophets reveal and speak the mysteries of Spirit of God. The people will question. They will seek validation and assurance. People will question and challenge your authority as a prophet of God. It behooves every prophet to seek from God a clear understanding of the message being conveyed and to be certain of the words spoken. Once spoken, you cannot retract what has been stated. You are accountable for your words.

Undeniably, this work is indeed divine. Unlike any other vocation, calling, assignment, appointment, or affiliation, the prophetic work requires the fullness and totality of you. It demands the full engagement of your whole self. It is such that the Spirit of God seeks in this season. Unless you are prepared to take an introspective journey into the abyss of your experiences intimately exploring your strengths, weaknesses, shortcomings, desires, flaws, and fallacies; unless you are prepared to confront and expose all of who you are, you are not fit for the prophetic assignment.

The magnitude of the prophetic assignment is unequivocally and uniquely different. It transcends our deepest desires and fears. This is a spiritual undertaking which cannot be confused with works of the flesh or things comprehended through our physical senses. The mantle of the prophet surpasses our utmost aspirations, dreams, and hopes forging into realms of the